Windows. How to stop "Auto update" of the app version

[landymangk 29]

Can somebody please tell me how to stop Evernote automatically installing its latest version whenever I start Evernote on my PC.

Hopefully the method to do this is simple.

(Please do not respond by advising that it's a bad idea to not auto-update, etc.  I understand the risks and I believe it should be my choice to decide to update or not.)

Many thanks

Graham

[gazumped 12,022]

Hi.  I don't believe it's possible to avoid updates at all,  although mine are every few weeks,  not every time the app opens.  It may be that there's a fault on your system which you could fix by uninstalling and reinstalling - if you like to do so we can supply full instructions for that...

[landymangk 29]

6 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Hi.  I don't believe it's possible to avoid updates at all,  although mine are every few weeks,  not every time the app opens.  It may be that there's a fault on your system which you could fix by uninstalling and reinstalling - if you like to do so we can supply full instructions for that...

Thanks for the quick reply.  I simply don't want Evernote to update itself without my permission.  It has just done that and increased the line spacing of all my notes.  That means that my notes now need to be scrolled through as they take more column inches.  I therefore want to use an earlier version and not have Evernote update without my prior acceptance.

 

[Farbauti 48]

The funny thing about "auto update" is that it generates its own flaws.

In v6 I never had any issues with EN client updates.

Since v10 I get such lovely error messages like "Oops, something went wrong. Please reload." - but any number of "reloading" did not help.
What helps: Shutting down EN client (not just closing it, but manually quitting it), then start the client again, then accept some weird changes in Windows' firewall settings, and only then you are good.

[PinkElephant 8,696]

Can‘t tell about the Windows firewall - it may be it receives over the air updates itself, and then starts to block what it allowed to pass before. The firewall on my Mac needs to be trained once, on the initial install, and is not messed up later. We all know what to think about MS security …

https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/CSRB_Review_of_the_Summer_2023_MEO_Intrusion_Final_508c.pdf

Closing the app window will not stop the client from executing. To stop it entirely, you need to quit it from the File menu, ad you described. For automatic updates it usually does this itself when ready to install . When you need to stop it manually is when you update yourself.

Finally the „Ooops, …“ message is indeed misleading: Usually when it appears the connection problem is not on the far end, but local.

[landymangk 29]

Solution found. 

Interim solution:  I downgraded to 10.83.5 to remove the increased line spacing issue.  Then, every time I rebooted my PC and restarted Evernote and it installed the latest version, I then force-reinstalled 10.83.5.  And after installing 10.83.5, I then have the understandable box on the Evernote screen which says there is an update for me.  For this joy, I am paying Evernote a decent sum every year. 

Final solution:  I've now installed UpNote.  I exported all my Evernote data and imported them into UpNote.   UpNote doesn't have all the Evernote clutter that I was not using but which Evernote kept throwing at me.  UpNote is cleaner for me.  Maybe it's not for everybody but it suits me fine.

What I find amazing is the increased line spacing which automatically imposed itself on my screen, and which could not be altered, and for which there were comments in another thread that I fed into that Evernote is not as bloated as MS Word - the minimalist UpNote package has a simple slide bar which lets the line spacing be changed on the hoof.  

I've been an Evernote user/subscriber since 2011.  The last thing I wanted to do was leave them.  But when something that I pay for changes without asking permission or providing a way to un-change/modify, it's annoying.  And then when Evernote starts adding URLs at the top of my notes which are entirely without value, it's time to actually leave.  There may be a way to disable these URLs, but when there isn't one to reverse the line spacing, maybe there's not.

Doubtless there are clauses in the T&Cs which state that Evernote can do these modifications and so they may be legally within their rights.  However, it doesn't pass the smell test.  

Finally, there is no way to directly communicate with Evernote and have a 2-way conversation.  Feedback can be left for which you get a standard auto reply.  This forum may be viewed by Evernote personnel, but that is a one-way view - nobody from Evernote is communicating back to me in these forum dialogues.  Maybe some of the responders are actually Evernote staff, but that is only an assumed guess.  Maybe Evernote is now so large that it cannot handle the volume of communications that it would receive, in which case Evernote has become too large to care for its previously loyal customers.  So therefore it's time to vote with my feet.  

I have only one more thing to do.  Cancel my Evernote subscription auto renewal.

[PinkElephant 8,696]

If it does the job for you, you need to know yourself.

Farewell ...